BILLINGHAM Stars had a weekend of mixed fortunes as they bounced back to win 4-2 at Coventry before losing by a single marker to Solway Sharks in the Northern Cup.

A tight first period at Coventry’s Skydome Arena closed without score, but Blaze opened the scoring in the second then extended their lead early in the third.

Stars’ response came five minutes later through Paul Windridge before Callum Davies added a brace to edge the Stars ahead.

As the advantage firmly swung in Billingham’s direction, the hosts were forced to pull their keeper and go for the draw and gained a six on three powerplay.

But with less than two minutes left the puck was dropped, ‘Spike’ Windridge intercepted, took it over his own blue line and released a back-hand shot that travelled the length of the ice and into the empty Coventry net.

“We played well,” said coach Terry Ward.

“We were two goals down but we kept our heads up and forced our way back into the game.

“Spike’s empty netter was special.”

It’s now three English National League Division One wins in a row for the Stars but Ward warned: “We can’t take anything for granted.

“This is the most competitive ENL we have ever seen.”

However Billingham’s first Northern Cup game of the season ended with a 2-1 home defeat after Solway netminder Gary Russell gave an outstanding performance to allow just a single goal from the 40 shots fired at him.

Stars broke the deadlock after five minutes through Andy Fletcher, assisted by Martyn Davies.

Solway pulled level two minutes later when Alex Crane converted on the powerplay assisted by Adam Reynolds.

Billingham outshot the Sharks by two to one in the second period but were unable to beat the in-form keeper.

Solway’s Mark Gallagher scored what proved to be the winner on the half-way mark.

“Everyone at Billingham is pulling on the same rope,” reflected coach Stephen Foster.

“We are a new team in a great new facility, and we want to win both the league and the cup.

“We did not generate the early energy we had hoped for.

“We were too slow. It took about 15 minutes to get going, we needed to pin Solway down, we didn’t and gave them too much room and they punished us.”

But he’s already looking ahead and added: “We have identified areas we need to work on in training this week.

“We need to bear down on the goal, and put some traffic in front of the opposition’s goalie.”